Rice-harvester.



f Patented 0st.' 3|, |899.' W. S. TEMPLE.

` mc: HARVESTER.

- (Application lgd Apr. 24, 1899.)

(No Model.) 2 SIieets--Sheet I.

THE Ncnms PETERS cu, PHnTwLn'HQ. WASHINGTON4 n. c.

N 636,085. Patented out. anlass.

I w. s. TEMPLE.

RICE HARVESTER.

(Application led Apr. 24, 1899.)

'(No Model.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2,

e. 5. m W

WMe/Jaco UNITED( STATES PATENT y OFFICE.

WILSON S. TEMPLE, OF MIIMFORD, NORTH CAROLINA.

RICE-HARVESTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters. Patent No. 636,085, dated october 31, 1899.

Application led Apri124, 1899. Serial No. 714,251. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILSON'S. TEMPLE,a citizen of the United States, residing at Mumford, in the county of Pasquotank and State of North Carolina, have inventeda'certain newV and useful Rice-Harvester, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to riceA-harvesters.

lodged or bent stems of the rice, of a disk for deflecting or bending the stems of the rice over a ledge and underneath the threshingcylinder, of an elevator for raising the rice.

from a pocket or Well in the bottom of the frame and discharging it into a sack or bag, and a fanning-mill or cleaning device for separating the chaff from the rice.

In the drawingsl forminga part of my speciiication, Figure 1 is a plan of themachine with the casing of the threshing-cylinders and the pole or tongue removed, a part of the supporting-frame being also removed. Fig. 2 is a side view of the machine with one of the wheels removed. Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a view showing the lifting-chains, the deflectingdisk, and the threshing-cylinders infront elevation.

1 1 are the supporting and driving wheels of the machine. These wheels are coupled with the axle 2 by means of clutches, so that in the forward movement the axle will operate as a driving-shaft for the entire machine, but so that when backing or the machine is drawn in a reverse direction the shaft will remzin inoperative, the Wheels turning on the ax e.

3 is the main supporting-frame of the machine, the same being itself supported upon the axle 2, being connected with said axle by means of boxes or clips 4 4. The main frame carries a drivers seat 5 and an arch 6, with `which the tongue or pole 7 of the machine is detachably connected, so that it may be reversed or turned entirely around to draw the machine in a forward or operative position or in the opposite direction when the same will be inoperative for going to and from a field.

. 8 is what I call a oatingor swinging frame, which carries all of the machinery or mechanism of myimproved harvester. This frame is suspended from the main` frame through the medium of hangers 9 9 and is ad justed-that is, raised and lowered-to the desired position or height from the ground through the medium of a hand-lever 10, the said lever being pivoted on the axle of the machine and having one arm thereof connected with the floating frame. lThe lever and the frame are held in any adjusted position through the medium of an ordinary notched segment, as shown at l1.

12 isv a master or main gear-wheel keyed to the axle 2. This main gear-.wheel intergears with the pinion 13, keyed to counter-shaft 14, supported and carried by the floating frame 8. The counter-shaft 14, from which is driven all the machinery of my harvester, has also keyed to it a pinion sprocket 15, which, through sprocket-chain 16, drives sprocketwheel 17, keyed to shaft 18, mounted in and carried by the floating frame 8. The shaft 14 Aalso has keyed to it beveled gear 19, meshing with beveled pinion 20, for driving the threshing-cylinder 2l, arranged lengthwise of the machine. Geared to the threshing-cylinder 21 is a second clearing-cylinder 22 for discharging broken straw laterally from the machine. The cylinders are conveniently intergeared by means of a cord or sprocket-chain 23, as may be desired. The shaft 18 has keyed to it two sprocket-wheels 24 24 for drivingl sprocket chains 25 25, which extend around guides 26 26 on the outer extremities of divergent and depending forks or arms 27 27 formed upon and made a part of the iioating frame 8. The object of thesesprocketchains is to raisey or lift up lodged or 'bent stems of rice to bring them into the range of thethreshing-cylinder, as shown in Figs. 1 and 4.

28 is a deflecting wheel or disk provided IOO ,-1 Y d l with fingers or projections, as shown, mounted upon the arm 27 of the oating frame opposite the frontend of the threshing-cylinder. The purpose of this is to swing or bend the heads of the rice laterally, so that they will enter the throat 29 in front of the threshingcylinder, and thereby be brought within the range of said cylinder, and in order to efficiently serve the purpose the periphery of the wheel extends across the throat between the divergent arms 27 27, as shown in Figs. 1 and 4. One of the sprocket-chains 25 impinges a pulley 30, attached to the spindle of deflecting-wheel 28, and serves to operate or rotate said wheel to perform its work. One of the arms 27 has secured to it a guide plate or shield 31 forsupporting and guiding the heads of the rice through throat 2O to threshing-cylinder.

32 is a sprocket-wheel keyed to shaft 14 for driving chain 33, and through it pinion 34 and shaft Shaft 35 carries pulley 36, which drives pulley 37 on elevator drivingshaft 3S. The elevator consists of an endless belt or band 39, carrying suitable liftingbuckets, the lower end of said elevator being carried on a suitable guide-pulley in the bottom of well or hopper 40, arranged beneath the threshing-cylinder. The elevator is inclosed in a suitable casing and discharges at the upper end over a screen 41. Within the casing, beneath the elevator and screen, is a fan 42, carried by shaft 35. Between the well or hopper 40 and the threshing-cylinder I arrange a screen 43 to prevent straw and coarse material from passing through the same to the elevator. The cylinder 22 serves to discharge or clear the cylinder-casing from straw orcoarsesubstances. Belowthescreen 41 a bag or sack 44 is carried on support 45 when the machine is in operation. 4G is a removable hood or cover for inclosing the threshing-cylinder.

It should be observed that the threshingcylinder is made conical at its front end, as shown in the drawings, for the purpose of more freely admitting the heads of the rice through the throat 29 beneath the same. In operation the threshing-cylinders are covered by a removable casing 4G.

In operation the harvester is arranged to straddle a row or drill of rice, the row normally extending between the forks or arms 27 27. The machine being started, the litters or chains 25 serve to raise the lodged or bent stems of the rice and draw them into the narrow throat between the arms 27 27, and the deiiecting-wheel 28 bends the stems or straws of the rice so that the heads are carried through throat 29 to the threshing-cylinder 21, where the grain is removed from the heads, drops down through screen 43 into hopper or well 40, and is taken thence by the elevator and carried up over screen 41, where a blast from fan 42 blows the chaff and light substances away, the rice falling down over screen 41 into sack or bag 44, which may be removed raising the lodged or bent stems, a threshingcylinder arranged lengthwise of the machine alongside the path of the lifting-chains, and a deflecting-wheel having its periphery or rim extending over and beyond the branches of the fork and the passage between them for bending the heads of the grain laterally into the range of the threshing-cylinder, substantially as described.

2. In a rice-harvester, the combination with the frame of the machine, of a longitudinallyarranged threshing-cylinder, guides for direeling the grain alongside the cylinder, and means for bending the stems of the grain to present the heads thereof in a plane beneath that of the axis of the cylinder,substantially as described.

3. In a rice-harvester, the combination of a suitable frame, a longitudinally-arranged threshing-cylinder mounted in said frame, means for guiding the grain in a path alongside the threshing-cylinder, a lateral throat or passage leading in aplane beneath the cylinder, and a rotary deflector for bending the stems and directing the heads of the grain into the throat beneath the threshing-cylinder, substantially as described.

4. In a rice-harvester, the combination of a threshing-cylinderarranged lengthwise of the machine, means for guiding the grain alongside the threshing-cylinder, a screened hopper or well arranged below the cylinder, an elevator leading from the hopper, and discharging over a screen, a fan arranged behind the screen, and means for bending and directing the grain to the threshing-cylinder, substantially as described.

5. In a rice-harvester, the combination of means for gathering and bending the riceheads laterally, and a conical threshing-cylinder, substantially as described.

G. In a rice-harvester, the combination of means for gathering and raising lodged or bent grain, means for laterally deflecting and bending the stems of the grain, and a threshing-cylinder having its axis arranged longitudinally of the machine and alongside and above the lateral throat or passage for the grain, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I afx my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILSON S. TEMPLE.

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